People shop for fruit on a street in Hong Kong on January 3, 2021. (PETER PARKS / AFP)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong recorded 32 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the lowest single-day increase since Nov 20 last year, pushing the city’s tally to 9,049.

The new cases included 31 local infections, nine of which were of unknown origin, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said at a regular media briefing.

The new cases included 31 local cases, nine of which were of unknown origin, said Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch

In a statement, the government also announced that most of the city’s nearly 180,000 civil servants will continue working from home until at least Jan 20.

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Among the infections of unknown origin was that of a nurse who worked at two clinics at the European Asian Bank Building in Mong Kok and in Homantin Plaza in Ho Man Tin, Chuang said.

There were also more than 20 people who tested preliminarily positive for the coronavirus, she added.

Chuang said residents of three more buildings--Affluence Garden Civic House in Tuen Mun, Lux Theatre Building Block A in Hung Hom and Po Hei Court Wing Hei Court in Cheung Sha Wan--would be subjected to mandatory testing.

Five more imported cases were found to have the mutated strain of the coronavirus reported in the United Kingdom, bringing the total to 15, Chuang said.Two other patients contracted another variant that was first found in South Africa.

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A supportive worker at Tuen Mun Hospital, who was a family member of a previous patient, tested preliminarily positive. Three of the worker’s colleagues would be quarantined, said Hospital Authority Chief Manager Linda Yu.